What's your viewpoint on "cheating" the pokéwalker? I feel that if you have the means to be more efficient, then why not? Sure, it's intended to get people fit...but if you're already fit and work out/play a sport every day (as I do), why bother taking the chance of losing the pokéwalker during said activity?

I've built myself a simple rig that gets 2 steps per second by getting a tiny motor, attaching a propeller (I had one lying around, it's about 3.5 inches in diameter), and tying a dismembered headphone's earbud to a propeller. Then I turned it upside down, to minimize the force needed from the motor to spin the pokéwalker (Right round, like a record baby, right round right round~). To finish it off, I added a pillow so the pokéwalker hits that during its circular path (because just attaching it to a motor would mean one constant force inwards, which would gain no steps at all. It would be the same as leaving the pokéwalker on a table all day). When the pokéwalker hits the pillow, it gets an additional force that jars it, and it counts that as a step. A pillow is also quiet so the rig can be left out overnight. I first powered it with a 9v battery, but those ran dry after one night, so I replaced the battery with a constant power source: I used an old cell phone charger, (with the thing that attaches to the phone that looks like this http://img.elec66.com/photo/offer/5200/big-cell-phone-charger.jpg), and that supplies 10-12 volts.

See, after my friends heard about this (after seeing my pokéwalker have 43,000 steps at 6 in the morning), we launched into a debate about the ethics of cheating the pokéwalker.

~PowerPeanut

PS: Why was I awake at 6:00 AM, you ask? For me, it's unusual (especially during the summer) to be awake before noon. I had pulled an all-nighter, and I had planned to meet my friends that morning.

EDIT: Since this topic is facing failure, I'll widen the parameters of my inquiry:
-How many steps do YOU average per day?
-Do you have any interesting stories on your experiences with the pokéwalker?
-Did you find the tamagotchi-esque peripheral any use?
-What's your overall strategy for finding items?
-What about for finding pokémon?

_________________I play Pokémon. I like physics.

Last edited by PowerPeanut on Sat Jul 10, 2010 8:05 pm, edited 2 times in total.

i dont think its cheating. how else are we supposed to get 10k steps in ONE day!
we'd be walking from dawn into the late night hours! and even then we'd have to sit there and try to catch the little boogers before midnight when the steps reset! x.x
although, its totally fun to carry it with you :3
i like having my pokemon with me during my days ^^

I usually get 14000 steps everyday. You must just be really lazy pomnabo. I don't think it's good to cheat, but o a pokemon walker, I don't care. I just give it to a friend and tell him to shake it for me, unless I actually go for walks, I which case I get a lot of steps.

Getting 10k steps a day (after a quick google search) is recommended for most people, apparently... My step count per day varies around 11k (those days I go to the gym) and as much as 18k (those days I play tennis), and I do one or the other each day.

Oh, I forgot to mention:
-The Pokéwalker is ingeniously designed, because just shaking it like you would a regular pedometer doesn't work. It doesn't have the small ball bearing (or a pendulum) that makes a connection as most pedometers do, otherwise it'd make an annoying clicking sound every time you take a step. I haven't taken apart my pokewalker yet, but I *think* it uses a small magnet that moves in and out of a solenoid, inducing a current. I'm not sure though.
-About 2000 steps is a mile for the average person, and said person can walk a mile in 15 minutes.

you walk, no offense....
P_P, you've got this figured out.... i was thinking about making a rig, but i honestly just don't care enough about the pw to actually take the time to make one.... plus i play diamond more. and i noticed the thing about the pw not working by shaking it :frustration: but for some reason, mine racks up steps twice as fast (i.e., instead of 2500, it puts 5000) i think this could be to account for both legs, but i'm not sure if it's just me, just me being stupid, or the pokewalker actually counting funny....

I pretty easily get 10k+ steps a day w/ pokewalker but only when i work. The only times i ven ever tried cheating it were some days i wasnt. Ive tried shaking it tapping a desk, and " the dog method" which i dont recomend because your dog could: A. Eat it, B. Step on it/ carry it into thewoods or C. bury it in the dirt outside, it would probably make more sense if you put it on a cat collar, but some if not most cats are very lazy and wont walk with it, or an inside only dog. i havent tried the washing machine or taping it to a fan yet but i want to. I have no problem waking with them at work or something, but at home they are useless, so i might try taping it to a washing machine and see if its more effective than walking, i think its better to walk with it mainly and " supplement it" by cheating the walker, but thats just me. i find the thing immensely useful for getting rare items and Pokemon, in HeartGold i already have Clefairy, and ive barely started the game, today I got a Blue and Yellow shard, and a Rare Bone, so im mainly using the walker in HG to get a ton of pokemon before I've made it to Violet City

_________________I am a shiny collector.I have many shinies that are too may to list here

Having learned a little bit about inertial navigation systems while I was in the Navy, I would say that the Pokéwalker probably uses a solid-state or piezoelectric accelerometer. These would sense the acceleration/deceleration the Pokéwalker undergoes while you walk.

As for "cheating" with it . . . well, the only person you're really cheating is yourself I suspect. As for me, since my work has me mostly sitting for 8 hours (sometimes up to 12 hours) a day, I have a bit of trouble getting it up past about 5000 on a normal work day. Though I do more if I'm out & about on my weekend. I had thought of attaching it to my dog's collar - but I think she'd tend to pull it off and eat it. LOL

And no, simply "shaking" it doesn't seem to work for me either. However, if you hold it and kind of swing it (simulating your thigh movement during walking) it does register "steps".

_________________Yes ... I'm 55 years old and only began playing Pokémon in '09. I may have to grow old, but I do NOT have to grow up!

i dont think its cheating. how else are we supposed to get 10k steps in ONE day!
we'd be walking from dawn into the late night hours! and even then we'd have to sit there and try to catch the little boogers before midnight when the steps reset! x.x
although, its totally fun to carry it with you :3
i like having my pokemon with me during my days ^^

Before I lost my Pokewalker I averaged at least 25k steps per day. This was all from daily life too, not taking random walks to increase the counter.

I don't have anything against "cheating" with the Pokewalker, but if someone can't walk at least 10k steps a few days a week I...feel sorry for them. Really, it's not hard to walk around and function. Pretty much everyone I've talked to with a Pokewalker was amazed at how many steps they took every day.

Does anyone remember Pikachu 2 GS? I still have mine somewhere; it was basically a Pokewalker with Pikachu only and he couldn't be transferred off. I remember getting it for my birthday one year and shaking it and the step counter would go up. It was really weird, when you shake it you could feel something rattling around inside!

I just keep mine in my pocket as I walk around in the daytime, transfer it from pants pocket to pants pocket depending on what I'm wearing. Don't really have anything against people "cheating" with the walker, but it's just how you play I guess...

A friend of mine actually did attach it to his dog's collar because his dog is really hyperactive... he ended up with like 50k steps from the dog running all over the backyard, lol.

Does anyone remember Pikachu 2 GS? I still have mine somewhere; it was basically a Pokewalker with Pikachu only and he couldn't be transferred off. I remember getting it for my birthday one year and shaking it and the step counter would go up. It was really weird, when you shake it you could feel something rattling around inside!

yes!!! i got one for my birthday when i was in like kindergarten (what, so i'm a bit young). i never could navigate it very well, tho, due to the fact that i had little idea on how it worked. i just played games like the slots on it a lot (this is that one, right??). eventually, i didn't play with it a lot, so the poor pikachu wound up hating me. after that, i couldn't get it to do anything even when i tried, so i just pretty much gave up on it altogether....

Cheating isn't wrong, imo, because it takes being crafty to do it. Its either go for a walk and get exercise or be creative and intelligent - both of which are pretty important things in life.

The set-up described in the OP is pretty cool. haha

But yeah, I just go for a couple walks, which admittedly lasted an hour or two [but they were slow lazy walks] and I got about 900 watts. So it definitely doesn't take anything drastic to rack up the points.

I was doing about 12K steps a day, just from my training. haven't been doing much the past month or so due to an injury tho. I'm just starting up my training again, it'll be a while before I can hunt my fly-chus again >.<
i guess i dont really care if people cheat, but i tend not to. i find its less fun if you cheat.

I've heard setting it on a turntable works (which supports the accelerometer theory, and would imply that you do not need the pillow PP, probably just need to slow the blade down a bit)

While i haven't tested that, i have put mine in my son's thomas train set.

Another way similar but (somewhat) safer way than the dog method is the small child method... they take more steps to walk the same distance, and are less likely to just sit around. Just tell them they'll get points for walking, but they have to leave it in their pocket. lol

I am in line with most people here in saying that living life (and working) should get you a lot of steps quickly (i average around 20,000 steps when i work)

does anyone else hate yellow forest... it took 3 days to get all the pokes from winner's path... still can't get a flying pikachu, even on my 30k-40k days with an electric on there

Actually, circular motion seems to work. I tied a string to mine and sit at my desk and swing it around. In ten solid minutes I've gotten 1000 steps. It takes lees to remember to do it than to sit there and shake your arm for an hour of watching tv or putting it on your sock. Since I bounce both feet, I always seem to bounce the one that doesn't have the little guy on it.

Quite frankly the point of it is to walk. I don't reach 10000 steps daily but on certain days, like the ones you go walking in a park or going on a photo run as I have frequently done, I have gotten to 15k. though i have noticed the technology is highly imperfect being that going over a speed while bump sitting in car can set the thing off.

If it cheating to use other methods yes and no. You still have just as much chance, no more or less, to get the pokemon as any one else, you just wont have gotten the exercise.

I can easily average 10k steps at work... I'm constantly walking or sometimes just pacing, easy as pie.

@AlphaArcheus: I've noticed that myself, although I don't pay much attention to it, as you can only get the steps off your primary one anyway (the one you first registered to the game) The second one I have only gives me Watts/Pokemon/items, no steps. Probably the positioning of them has something to do with it.
I keep finding WAY too many Goldeems on my second one, since only one Pokemon can be out at a time, something has to join me on the second.

I think the pokewalker is a very important item if you want to complete your pokedex before trading to get the ones you don't have. I don't trade until I have tried every other way to get the pokemon in the game. Some pokemon you can only get on the pokewalker would be....

When I had stuff to do over the summer, I got about 18000 steps a day, but even on my days off, when I don't leave the house and do almost nothing inside the house I'd get about 3000 steps, just from doing things like going to the bathroom or getting food etc etc.

My friend usually shakes hers.I can't be bothered to shake mine, that seems far more bothersome than walking.

I don't think there's anything wrong with "cheating" (if you want to call it that). Some people don't have the time/ability to actually walk to gain the steps. I shake/swing/whatever mine, because I would hardly get any steps if I didn't (I think I get maybe 1500 at most a day going about my usual tasks and that's on a good day); I'm at a computer for a minimum of 10 hours a day during the week for work and due to a bad knee injury a couple months ago, I can't walk around a whole lot without pain/muscle spasms/my knee locking up. For the foreseeable future, exercise is out of the question.

*shrug* I'd be more than happy to actually walk if I could, personally, but that's just me. That rig is a really cool idea, though...

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